


Linked

by camikingst



Category: Avengers (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom, ave - Fandom - Fandom
Genre: M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Spirit Animals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-05-07 10:12:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19207273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camikingst/pseuds/camikingst
Summary: Name, purpose, spirit animals and soulmates, those are the things you are guaranteed to have in life. What happens when your meant to be soulmate is a neurosurgeon who values mind over feelings or a billionaire, playboy who is famous for changing lovers like he changes clothes? Stephen Strange and Anthony Stark will have to figure this out when an accident brings them together.





	1. Pain

Pain.

Excruciating unforgiving pain.

It felt like someone was ripping out his spine, sucking it out of his body through an inch by inch hole in the base of his neck, where the cranium meets the cervical vertebrae.

There was a medical explanation for what he was suffering and being the neurosurgeon he was, he knew all too well why he suddenly felt the need to scream at the top of his lungs and bang his head against the nearest wall until he was rendered unconscious in his own operating room. But the common choice of words to explain this condition to a patient was simple. Or better, had to be simplified, because the brain function of any patient going through this kind of pain was momentarily disabled and they could only attend to short understandable words. In fewer words and common terms, his soulmate, wherever they found themselves in the world were dying.

Stephen Strange took a step back of the operating table, hands shaking, gripping his scalpel with such strength,  that if the instrument was not made of hardened tempered steel he was sure it would have bent with the pressure he was applying onto it.

Everyone in the room fell silent, looking at him like he was trying to murder the woman in the table by his negligent choice of walking away from the table in the middle of the surgery. Every single one of them ignoring the reality of his state since he kept his lips pressed in a thin line, preventing himself from releasing the scream that desperately tried to crawl all the way up from the bottom of his throat.

"Are you alright Strange?" His assistant surgeon asked with a concerned expression but remaining close to the patient in case he had to jump in at the sight of any complication.

"Please t-take on doctor West," he sputtered with strangled words, making his way to the operating room exit and bursting out of the door.

With the scalpel still in hand he stumbled through the hospital's hallways, making a straight line to the animal lounge, as straight as he could manage, because he felt his spine was being torn apart into pieces and his limbs started to feel numb and heavy, making it difficult to walk without stumbling on walls, corners, steps or his own feet with no distinction.

There are three things you are born with in this world, and those are probably the only three things you are guaranteed to have in life, a name, a purpose, and a spirit animal. Most People Would count soulmates to be an addition to this guaranteed perks of being born, but with the high rate of people not being able to find their soulmates in their lifetime and the numerous suicides of people who experienced their deaths without ever meeting them, Stephen couldn't call that a perk, just a liability of being alive.

Spirit animals take the worse out of a soulmate demise, because their spiritual connection to your soulmate's respective spirit animal is strong and when they feel their spirit counterparts dying, they suffer all along as if they were dying themselves, what humans feel is the result of their suffering, not their soulmate's death per se, but the spirit link between them breaking.

He tripped over himself when he finally reached the animal lounge and the attendant rapidly came to assist him.

"Doctor Strange, he won't stop screaming," the girl in front of him was around eighteen years old and her normally bright hopeful expression now was replaced with a panic one, the girl run to his side and offered him a trembling hand for him to grab and get up, but the gesture though appreciated, was of no help for him because he couldn't find the strength to reach out and accept it," what can I do to help you?" she asked, panic now taking over her voice as well.

Stephen looked up from the place he had landed on the floor, a hundred animals had their eyes fixed on him, but the only sound that flooded the room were the cries of pain of his spirit animal and his own desperate panting, trying to regain the strength he needed to get up out of the reduced quantity of oxygen he managed to breathe in.

"I—," he huffed trying to catch his distressed breath, "n—need to hold him," he managed to let out then, making a last desperate attempt to get up, but when he tried to take the animal carer's extended hand, a wave of pain darted down his spine and threw him back on his knees.

"I'll bring him," the girl said jumping into action and in seconds she came back carrying his otter back with her.

Levy was not always an otter, on occasions when he felt like attending his surgeries he would turn into a blue butterfly and watch him work from a corner of the room and then when it was winter he liked to turn into a big ghostly wolf with fluffy blue fur that kept him warm laying at the feet of his bed. But the rest of the time he remained an otter because like his, Levy's element was the water and there was nothing he enjoyed most than swimming in his ghostly spirit water all day. Right now,  however, Levy didn't fully resemble an otter, he was a weird mix between his otter and his wolf form. At least that is what Stephen could discern through his teary blurred vision, his fluffy tail and a pair of ears popped out of his body, like he was stuck between transformations, he was also turning a violet-ish color and this concerned Stephen even more than the incessant pain cries.

Normally when a spirit animal changes form it's a smooth shift that if not paying attention a human can easily miss in a simple eye blink, therefore, he knew something was definitely wrong with Levi.

He extended his hand to caress Levi's head and right then was that he noticed it, his head was splitting in two and so was his little body and suddenly a little red fox sprung from Levi like he was being cloned into another version of himself and the pain stopped altogether.

The fox approached Levi and rubbed his nose against Levi's cheek and he leaned into the caress, Stephen looked at them curiously, normally Levi preferred human company over any other spirit animal, the bond was clear between them and Stephen had to jump to conclusions watching their behavior, his soulmate was dying, yes, that hadn't changed, but they had to be really close since their spirit counterpart had been able to cross through the shattering link they shared with Levi.

"Show me the way," Stephen talked directly to the fox and the animal jumped more than happy to comply and started running towards the door followed by Levi, they waited there for him to follow.

"Doctor Strange?" The girl he forgot was in front of him asked concerned, but he just smiled at her and got up to follow the animals to the hallway.

"You did great—, ern, thank you," it took him less than a second to realize he didn't know the girl's name, this girl had taken care of Levi for longer than a year and he had never once before wondered what was her name, he felt like an absolute jerk, but he didn't have time for apologies right now.

He had to do whatever was in his hands to save his soulmate, if not for his own sake for Levi's.

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys this idea has been in my drafts for quite a long time and now I finally found the perfect ship for it, honestly can't believe it took me so long to realize this. So what do you think? Sounds promising? Should I carry on?


	2. Death

The emergency room was not particularly crowded that day, but the majority of doctors and nurses ran behind the gurney that was just brought in.

"What do we have here Palmer?" Stephen asked making his voice heard over the general noisy commotion of the place, while Levi and the red fox zig-zagged their way to get under the gurney.

He tried to take a peek at the patient, curiosity bubbling up in his chest more powerful than the increasing disdain he felt towards feeling it at all, he had always hated the concept of being bonded to another being by something so intangible and out of his control as fate, so he decided he didn't want a soulmate since he was old enough to reason and here he was, thirty or so years after that, made a complete bundle of nerves, trying to anticipate how his looked like.

Well, his soulmate was dying, and there was probably no point in anticipating anything anyway. In any case, there was a big crowd of people and medic equipment surrounding the gurney and he wasn't able to discern a thing from where he was standing.

"A little busy here Stephen," Christine peeked her head over the crowd to look at him for a moment and then went back to work on the patient.

"Yeah, I can see that, need some help?"

"Have you seen the guy? I need all the spare hands I can get!"

For a moment he wanted to make a witty comment about how he obviously hadn't seen the patient since he was asking what they had there, a question that miss Palmer had spectacularly failed to answer by the way, but before he could make any comment he noticed the other more remarkable thing she said.

"Guy? What guy?"

"It's Anthony Stark, there was an explosion at his lab, apparently," a nurse that was attending a patient in the gurney beside them told him as if it were the most noteworthy gossip of the year.

"Move away," Stephen demanded one of the nurses assisting Christine and she complied handing him a pair of gloves.

Genius weapon manufacturer Tony Stark laid in front of him, giant hole in the chest and doctor palmer's hand buried in his thoracic cavity all the way up to her wrist.

"He has a considerably big amount of shrapnel pieces trying to pierce his heart and I can't see a way to stop his bleeding apart from this," she informed clogging the injury with her hand.

"Find an OR, " Stephen told the nurse he had switched places with, "Call in an tell them we are on our way, doctor West was just finishing his surgery, find out if that OR is ready, and order several blood units as well, let's go people!"

With no need of any further invitation, Christine jumped over the gurney and the rest of the team pushed it to the elevator, there was no space for all of them in there and only Stephen and Christine for obvious reasons took the elevator with the patient to the OR.

"Weren't you operating with doctor West? Why is he finishing your surgery, Stephen?" Christine asked when they found themselves alone in the elevator.

He was going to tell her whatever lie crossed first through his brain, but at that moment the patient that he thought was sedated woke up screaming.

...

Anthony Stark woke up to the pressure of a person straddling his lap and a hand  buried in his chest, his first reaction despite the excruciating pain he was in was to fight and try to remove the hand he felt drilling a hole in his chest, but his attempt at this was stopped by two strong hands on his wrists, he looked up and found a pair of blue eyes looking down on him.

"Mr. Stark you had an accident, we are doing our best to help you, I know it hurts, I'm sorry," the baritone pitch of the doctor's voice had a calming effect on him for some reason and despite the pain, he stopped fighting.

He grunted in pain, praying for some morphine or a good old fashioned blow to the head to render him unconscious.

"We need sedatives, Stephen,” the woman with the hand in his chest said, but the doctor holding his wrists didn't move or dropped his hands to do as she told him, he just stood there rubbing circles on his right wrist over his inactive soul tattoo and suddenly the pain stopped and the room went black.

...

"What was that? Why didn't you give him the sedatives?" Christine asked frantically.

"He fainted,"  Stephen replied as if that was the fact that sealed the deal of his inaction and he delicately dropped Stark's wrists onto the gurney, right before the elevator door opened at its destination.

There was a team already waiting outside the door and the OR was ready for them.

Stephen went to wash while the rest of the team pushed the gurney with Christine still on top towards the operating room.

He took advantage of finding himself alone, to take a peek at his right wrist, where the rounded soul tattoo that in the morning was inactive and grayed out now shone iridescent in all the spectrum colors.

He finished washing and pulled the sleeve down when a nurse came to inform him they were ready for him, so he put on some surgical gloves and entered the operating room.

He noticed Levi and his new found red friend perched at the corner of the room in their butterflies form and he immediately moved his gaze away before anyone could even think of following it.

"Alright everyone, when Dr. Palmer removes her hand from the injury we are going to need immediate suction so I can proceed to remove all the shrapnel fragments, is everyone ready?" He asked and there were several nods, "Christine—, " he nodded as well and that was the only clue she needed to pull her hand out.

Blood bubbled behind her hand, there was so much of it that the suction machine wasn't keeping up to clear the area from it, but Stephen could still remove at least ten pieces of shrapnel before the patient went into a cardiac arrest because of the blood loss, which was not remotely proportional to the amount they could and were currently transfusing him.

Stephen paralyzed for a moment and Christine had to intervene and take care of the paddles to revive the patient before he could take on and remove more fragments from his chest.

Stephen found that if he thought of Anthony Stark as any other patient, despite the tangible and highly unwanted bond he recently found out they shared, it was easier for him to take impartial medical decisions while trying to save his life, which one would think should be very easy for a person that decided they didn't want that bond at all, because anyhow the man laying on the table was a complete stranger to him and someone he in other conditions would have never wished to ever meet. And yet he felt the distress in his own breath every time the ECG monitor showed an unusual heart rate after that first cardiac arrest.

But in spite of his major efforts in not getting involved, when the second cardiac arrest struck Anthony and none of the several attempts Christine made to bring him back worked, he felt how his lungs were vacuumed of all the air inside them and he punched the operating table with all he got.

But even the kind of pain that now crawled from his knuckles to his elbow and would probably keep him out of the OR for at least a week, could not distract him from the immense emptiness he felt settling down inside him. It fought all reason and was ridiculous in every thinkable way, but it was there, tangible and completely unbearable. Sorrow and loneliness consumed his insides in a blink as if he had mixed antimony pentafluoride with his morning glass of water and all his internal organs had suddenly been corroded into a big pile of mush.

"Stephen?" Christine looked at him concerned, "we have to call time of death, he's gone."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know what to write here, I'm sorry?


	3. Life

Ten.

The OR walls suddenly started to feel like they were closing on him.

Nine.

He looked towards the corner of the room, where Levi was back in his otter form and had descended to the floor to sit beside the last traces of the Red Fox's existence, the little animal faded away at the exact same rate as Anthony's asystole line appeared on the ECG monitor.

Eight.

Christine stopped her every attempt at bringing Anthony back and Stephen's breathing faltered all of a sudden as if someone had kicked all the air out of his lungs.

Seven.

His hands started feeling numb probably from the lack of oxygen reaching his brain at that moment and he felt the abrupt urge to punch a hole in the operating table.

Six.

Pain, it spread like wildfire through his numbed nervous system as he landed his punch on the cold surface of the operating table, but it wasn't quite enough.

Five.

Christine talked, clearly addressing to him but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't discern what she was saying, her voice was just an unintelligible mumble at the background.

Four.

His heart pumped loudly in his ears, so loud he was certain his eardrums would explode at any second.

Three.

He felt lightheaded almost as if he was about to faint.

Two.

He looked down at his hands, surgical gloves still on, soaking wet in Anthony's blood and trembling uncontrollably.

One.

"Listen up you egotistical son of a bitch, I just found you and I'm not about to fucking lose you, wake up!" He hastily screamed startling everyone in the room and his punch descended hard over Anthony's still open chest this time.

"Stephen!" Christine yelled running towards him to try to stop him.

"You are not dying on me now, Stark" he hit Anthony's chest again so hard the limp body jumped under the strength of his blow.

"He's gone Stephen, " Christine was now behind him trying to hold him still and he had to shrug off her embrace forcefully.

"No, he's not, he can't be," his voice faltered and he felt the unmistakable warmth of tears streaming down his cheeks, right before Christine made him turn around and rolled up the right sleeve of his surgical gown to look at his tattoo.

"He's not dying on you! You hear me, Stephen?" She said making him move out of the way when she understood the sudden strange behavior of her friend.

Everything started moving in slow motion for Stephen while he was being forced to walk out of the operating room by an intern he couldn't remember the name of at the moment and Christine and the rest of the team moved in the background trying to do what he started to think was a lost cause.

But then when he and the intern reached the door something extraordinary happened and the most incredibly beautiful sound rang in Stephen's ears, and he knew that Christine had achieved the impossible and would do everything to keep it just the way it was for the rest of the surgery.

Anthony Stark was going to walk alive and kicking out of this hospital and out of his life, as it should be.

...

A week after Stark's accident, Christine had fulfilled her promise of not letting him die on that table and he was grateful for that, despite what everyone thought since he had spent the entire week ignoring the man he had been so desperately wanting to save that day.

The entire hospital knew by now that he was Anthony Stark's soulmate or that Anthony's was his for that matter, if not because of the general gossip of the people who had shared the OR with Dr. Palmer and him that day, because apparently, the billionaire started spreading the word around the place when he felt well enough to roll in his wheelchair up and down the hospital's corridors.

_Can you believe I got the hottest Doctor in this Hospital to be my soulmate and he still hasn't honored me with the courtesy of a sexual visit in my room at night?_ Stephen heard him saying to the nurse pushing his wheelchair one day when he nearly ran into them in a hallway and was forced to hide in the nearest room he could find to avoid being seen by the duo.

There was no apparent reason for him to be avoiding the Hospital's patient of the month, because that was Anthony Stark now, apparently everyone in the hospital absolutely loved him and they didn't waste two seconds to let Stephen know their opinions on his decision of ignoring Stark whenever they run into him anywhere in the hospital, that was the main reason he barely left his office anymore.

Tony Stark was in all sense of the word what anyone would ever wish from a soulmate, charismatic, funny, highly intelligent, extraordinarily famous and if that weren't enough he was also absurdly rich, only the last would make the cut for many people he knew, but that notion wasn't enough to force Stephen Strange to leave the comfort of the refuge that his office had become in the past few days.

With the excuse of having a hand in a sling, he had spent the entire week secluded in that office hiding from the inevitable fate that hunted him, until one day that fate wasn't kind enough to wait for him to go outside the room.

"Stephen Strange!" Christine burst in his office the Friday's afternoon, all threatening demeanor and mad eyes, she looked a bit scary if Stephen was honest, "I'm sorry for this, but I didn't save your soulmate so you could do what you always do and run away from him," she said and then burst out the office again.

"Nice talk Christi—," he yelled after her but before he could finish, she came back pushing Stark's wheelchair.

"You two talk and solve this and you behave yourself, Stephen," she said walking Anthony near his desk, "I'll be right outside," she then said to Stark in such a reassuring way that it made Stephen wonder what was that she thought he would do to the patient, kill him?

"Dr. Strange," Anthony started when Christine closed the door at her back and they were alone.

"Mr. Stark," Stephen replied.

"Oh, please call me Tony," the man said with a smirk.

"Anthony—," the smirk only grew at this but that was about all the response Stephen got from the man, "my sincere apologies for not visiting you earlier," he continued not waiting any longer for a reply that Stark was clearly not going to give him, "you see, my agenda for late night sexual visits to my patients was a little busy this week."

"Oh, don't worry Doc, I'm well aware of how busy you've been, so it was me who came to pay you that visit instead."

"Should I walk there and get naked or you prefer to come here and do it yourself," Stephen replied full of irony.

"Oh well, maybe you didn't find out about it but I was recently involved in a very nasty accident, so you'll have to bear with me and take this visit in a much more spiritual way," Tony clicked his tongue like it was a real shame he was not in fit condition to take him right there over his desk.

Stephen couldn't stop his cheeks from flushing at the mere thought, so he looked away from the man, missing the exact moment he lifted his left hand to reach the tattoo on his right wrist, but he definitely felt it when his groin area started to wake at the touch.

"What do you think you are doing Stark?" Stephen asked, hastily looking back in his direction.

"Well, I thought I was pretty clear about the fact that I came here to pay you THAT visit in a much more spiritual way than you expected," he said, all innocence, lifting his hands in surrender, allowing Stephen to relax for the split second that it took him to reach his tattoo again, and work his finger against it in a faster and more effective way than before.

Stephen groaned in his chair unable to control what happened inside his pants, in a second his vision was blurry and his groin had grown to his full potential, it would be the most spectacular feeling if it wasn't because Stark was just doing it to play with him and only that left a bitter taste to the blissful sensation his soul tattoo was giving him at that moment.

"Stop!" Stephen let out a couple of minutes later when he was able to regain control over his brain and it sounded half like a moan half like a groan.

"Come on Stephen, we both know you want this, you desire me," Stark said, but he stopped as he was told.

"No, I don't," Stephen said through gritted teeth, " I've never wanted this, I never asked for this!"

"I've been told, you don't like the soulmate concept, you even took a vow of never settling down for one, didn't you?"

"I did, now leave!"

"Truth be told I never wanted  
it either," Stark said, not moving an inch from where he was, "why would I settle down for one soul when I can have anyone I desire?"

"Go have them then and leave me alone, will you?"

"One more thing—," Tony said frowning, "why trying to save me if you didn't want me at all?"

"I honestly don't know, I guess at the moment I felt like I wouldn't survive your lost, I like my life very much, it was a mere survival instinct," Stephen shrugged belittling the matter.

"You want to know what I think?"

"You are going o tell me anyway, aren't you?" Stephen shrugged again.

"I think you felt the connection between us is much more than you always thought it was, I think you felt it breaking and you didn't want to lose the chance to find out if you had been wrong all this time regarding your hatred towards the soulmates subject," Tony said, "I also think you were able to sedate me in that elevator because I found your presence there particularly calming at that moment and so my soul tattoo reacted at your touch by allowing you to knock me out, just as now I am able to arouse you by touching my own tattoo because you find me incredibly attractive."

"And so what, that's how the soul tattoos work, everybody knows it, our bodies are linked by that tattoo just like our souls are by our spirit animal and maybe yes I find you attractive as I'm sure you find me attractive as well but that doesn't change the fact that I want a soulmate just as much as you want to stop fucking the entire east coast's slightly appealing population!" He responded annoyed.

"That's absolutely ridiculous Doctor, my standard goes beyond the slightly appealing ones,"  Tony smirked once again only adding to Stephen's annoyance, "but please do step by my penthouse whenever you please, you fit perfectly into my standards," Stark winked, then got up from his wheelchair and walked to the door, "I've been discharged today, so farewell Doctor Strange.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is another one guys, thanks for all the love you've given this story, hope you continue to enjoy it.


	4. Torture

Desire.

Crude carnal craving.

The first time he felt it, he was in his office reviewing some cases and surgeries that he had had to postpone for the next week, due to his still-healing hand.

Suddenly a wave of pure sexual yearning struck him and his body started reacting to it in the most uncomfortable way, at least he was alone when he had to take care of the problem, that time.

The rest of them he wasn't alone and he now had lost count of how many times he had had to run out of a room or an OR directly to the bathroom like some prepubertal boy having a really bad time transitioning to puberty, at least it never happened during actual surgeries, just at the start before he cut someone open, or right after he had sutured and finished, it was almost as if Stark knew exactly what he was doing at all times of the day, he was not stupid, he knew these body reactions had a source and that source was a really annoying billionaire, who apparently enjoyed pissing him off at all times of the day when he was not endangering anybody's life, how was Stark doing that? Stephen didn't know, but it came to the point that he was considering to actually pay him a visit in his penthouse like the billionaire had so «kindly» suggested the last time they saw each other, either to make him stop his torture, or at least to force him to help release the three and a half weeks of accumulated frustration, he didn't mind if he had to surrender to the man, he was literally desperate now.

...

"Mr. Stark, there is someone here looking for you," his assistant let him know one night when he was getting ready to mess up with Strange again, for some reason, he found particularly amusing spying on the doctor with Levi's help just to bother him for the hell of it, wondering when was dear Doctor Strange going to reach a breaking point.

"Send them in, Peeps," he told Pepper on the intercom and since he had a scheduled appointment with a client in some minutes he didn't bother to ask who was it, he just guessed they had arrived early.

"They are already heading up in your personal elevator."

"How many times do I have to tell you that's a security breach, Pepper? " he sighed, walking to the elevator to welcome his guest.

"Commander Ross—, " he greeted when the door started to open, but before he could say anything else, Levi jumped over him from the slit opening in the door and he fell back over his butt, because of the force printed on the jump by the little animal, the otter started licking his face like he hadn't seen him in ages, "by all means Levi, is not like I had almost died from an injury on my chest just a few weeks ago," he complained, but Levi was no longer paying attention to him, his gaze was fixed in the corner of the room where he could spot his new found red best friend.

"Need help?" Stephen offered, walking near him a smirk plastered on his face, as if he found the situation particularly funny, he then extended a hand for him to grab.

"Strange—," Tony greeted accepting the aid offered.

"Levi suddenly ignoring you when that one is around? Not so Strange really," Stephen mocked pointing at Levi and the red fox.

"That one has a name," Tony said dusting off his suit.

"Well, of course he must have one, but you were never kind enough to introduce us," Stephen sassed.

"It's not like you cared to come and met him," Stark rolled his eyes, walking to his desk to sit leaning on the edge.

"Better late than sorry?" Stephen shrugged.

"Jarv, come here," Tony told the fox and he gracefully walked towards them," Doctor Strange, meet Jarvis my spirit animal and best friend, Jarvis, meet Doctor Strange the heartless man who abandoned you and Daddy to die in a cold hospital wing," Stark said and Jarvis barely glanced at Stephen for half a second, before he went back to sit in the cushion on the corner of the room where Levi now waited for him.

"So, what can I do for you, Stephen?"

"You see, Mr. Stark, I have a problem—," he replied with a husky tone.

"What kind of a problem Doctor?" Tony asked amused.

"A big annoying one," Stephen said inching closer to the desk.

"Is that so?"

"Hmhm," he replied and it sounded more like a moan than anything else, he was so close to Stark now that his cologne flooded his nose and his breath collided with his face as the man looked at him with parted lips and hypnotic chocolate eyes.

"And what exactly is this problem of yours?" Stark asked leaning closer to Stephen until he was whispering in his ear, lips brushing against Strange's earlobe, "maybe I can help with it—."

Stephen pushed the billionaire slightly back with a hand over his chest in order to see his face and Tony winced at the action, as the doctor's hand landed over the exact spot on his chest that now had a big nasty scar, it didn't hurt, it was just uncomfortable, like it was not even a part of his body anymore, half numb, half sensitive skin surrounding it.

"You—," Stephen whispered in return, "my problem is you, Anthony Stark," he said and his hand currently resting over Tony's chest closed and he grabbed a fistful of Tony's burgundy dress shirt and pulled him close for a kiss.

It took Tony a few seconds to be fully aware of what was happening and Stephen was already working his way into his shocked parted lips, but it was not long before he started fighting for the dominance of the kiss, he managed to swap places with Strange until it was the neurosurgeon who sat on the desk and not him.

Stephen pressed his hips against him, shamelessly letting him feel just how much his little sexual torture had affected him on the last few weeks, so much that now a simple kiss would arouse him to this point.

Tony broke away from the kiss, flicking his head back just enough to take a glance at Stephen, he smirked when he noticed the flushed cheeks and dilated pupils.

"I knew you thought I was hot," Tony commented sliding his hands under the neurosurgeon's shirt.

"Shut up and kiss me, Anthony," Stephen demanded.

"That's a lot more demanding than I'm used to, but who am I to deny my soulmate his heart deepest desires?" He shrugged and leaned in to kiss the doctor again.

"Do not ruin this with your sappiness, Stark,” Stephen said capturing Stark's bottom lip between his teeth, Tony smirked in response, which only drove Stephen to bite harder.

"Or what—," Tony dared him, pushing Stephen back again so he could notice his lifted eyebrow.

"Or I'll do this—," Stephen replied and before Tony knew what happened the doctor had him laying over the desk, with him on top, several items from his desk fell to the wooden floor in the process and his laptop was left on the verge to follow after them, if they made any false movement he would lose the presentation he was preparing for commander Ross, he found himself thinking that he wouldn't mind much if that happened anyway, so he pulled Stephen down for a frenetic kiss and his hands vastly slid all the way down to the doctor's belt and he started unbuckling it.

Tony was so close to get his prize that the emotion was already reflecting in his own crotch, he finished unbuckling Stephen's pants and moved to slide his hand into his boxer briefs, but before he could reach his self-proclaimed deserved prize, the intercom turned on again and Pepper's voice flooded the room.

"Mr. Stark, the Deputy Task Force Commander Everett Kenneth Ross is on his way to your office in your personal elevator."

What was it with Pepper and all those titles?

"Sorry honey, this have to wait and you have to hide," Tony said pushing Stephen off of the desk.

The tall man fell heavily on the floor.

"Bloody hell, are you joking, Stark?" He asked from the floor.

"Nope, big potential client, what are you waiting for? Hide, chop chop!

"Why would I hide?"

"Well for starters you look like you were about to get laid, all blushed and ruffled and if that weren't enough your erection could be spoted from the stratosphere, just hide," Tony asked with a pleading expression.

"Where?" Stephen rolled his eyes not very convinced, but before Tony could answer him, the elevator bell rang and the last thing he could see was Tony's hand pushing him under the desk.


	5. Revenge

"Commander Ross," Tony greeted, straightening his back and quickly fixing his wrinkled clothes before he turned around to face the man, "welcome to the Stark Industries, please come in, have a seat."

"Mr. Stark-," the blond saluted, approaching him and Tony waited where he was to shake hands with the man before he sat heavily on his chair and motioned for the Commander to do the same across the desk, "is everything alright here?" The man asked, noticing the several office items spread over the floor.

"Oh, that's nothing, I got a little carried away in my last project, I'll have that cleaned later," he replied dismissively, "I am glad you could make it Commander," Tony said feeling Stephen's gaze fixed upon him as he remained at a safe distance from the desk.

"I am going to be honest with you Stark, I only came here as a formality, the Stark industries have worked with the government for many years and your father was a very exceptional Man, he was the very best this country could offer, but we are looking for the possibility to expand to a new market in Africa and we can't afford to invest in both companies, Africa has top quality raw material, what can you offer us?"

"I like a man who is straight forward," Tony commented moving his chair closer to the desk, a grin plastered on his face and he could picture Stephen rolling his eyes under the desk just as clearly as he felt his face now pressing against his thigh, "I know that by «Africa» you really mean Wakanda and even when I would want to deny it, you are right about the Vibranium, it is certainly a top quality raw material and I'm afraid there is nothing else on earth that can compare to it."

"I have no idea how you can possibly know about Wakanda and the Vibranium Mr. Stark, but I can see that you don't have anything better to offer us," Ross stated.

"I-, Tony started, but before he could finish his thought, he felt Stephen sliding his hands all the way from his ankles to his knees to spread his legs apart under the desk, "I didn't say that-, " he continued, trying to kick Stephen under the desk to make him stop, but the doctor had now both his legs pinned against the wooden desktop walls, "You and I both know Wakanda is as close to giving up their Vibranium to the world, as you are to blindly trust me and pick my market instead of theirs," Tony fell silent for a moment to allow the commander a comment and Stephen took advantage of this to reach out for Tony's belt, the billionaire visibly tensed up in his chair and once again tried to kick him, but the space under the desk was reduced and Stephen could easily hold his legs spread with his body weight.

"What is it you have to offer us?" the blond asked after a minute of consideration.

"I am implementing new targeting technologies into my weapons and I've been developing designed bio-weapons that I know your organization and many others will be fighting over in the near future," Tony's voice sounded so controlled right then even when Stephen was now unzipping his pants and most likely only a few seconds away from burying his hand into his underwear, "why don't you watch a presentation I've prepared for you and then consider who has better things to offer you, «Africa» or your best weapon supplier for the last decades."

There were some seconds of silence and then the place flooded with the sound of the giant TV on the further wall and as soon as the presentation started and the blond turned around to watch it, the billionaire put both his hands under the desk and pushed Stephen back the best he could, almost poking his eye in the process, but the neurosurgeon grabbed his wrists stopping him and a second later Tony felt the unmistakable sensation of someone sucking in his index finger completely into their mouth, that was about everything he needed for the entire content of his veins to start rushing down to his groin, but he still pulled his wrists out of Stephen grasp and zipped his pants again before the presentation finished.

"That's a very impressive presentation, good quality CGI, but it's just CGI nevertheless, DNA based missile targeting sounds really revolutionary and I'm sure we would be interested in that, if that was a reality right now," the blond said but Tony didn't answer him, instead he clung to the desk with both his hands as if his life depended on it, since Stephen had suddenly felt the urge to use his tattoo against him in the exact same way he had used it against the doctor for the past few weeks, "Mr. Stark? Are you alright?"

Stephen stopped for a second.

"As a matter of fact I'm not," Tony said, starting to unbutton his dress shirt, "you see this nasty scar? I don't know if you heard about the accident I had a few weeks ago, but the DNA based missile targeting is a reality and this scar is a result of it."

Suddenly all the urge Stephen had for revenge disappeared and he started to listen to the conversation attentively and the TV sound flooded the place again.

_"_ _Okay_ _Jarv_ , we are doing this, I have to test it and besides it's down to 0.001% of its full combustion capacity, I have the protection suit, it won't even leave a scratch, yes I know its a missile, but it's a miniature one, now load my DNA, Jarvis—," Tony's voice sounded in the background, "DNA based missile targeting day nine, human trial one, 0.001% of combustion capacity, alright, shoot," a big explosion sound followed and then silence again.

"Now you have a lot to consider Commander Ross," Tony said when the video ended, "that would be all, you know where the exit is."

"You will be hearing about us, Stark," the man said and right after that his chair moved and the sound of his steps disappeared in the distance when the elevator bell rang and he left, Tony moved away and helped him out from under the desk.

"So where were we Doc? Do you still want revenge or did you have enough of that under there?" Tony asked, winking at him but Stephen was ignoring him, his gaze was fixed on the big screen on the wall where the video of the missile trial was still on display and paused.

"What I want—," Stephen turned around to look at Tony, "—is for you to tell me, how a genius like you can be so stupid Anthony? Your accident—, you caused it? You had a missile fired at your chest? What were you thinking? You almost died!"

"And what was I supposed to do?" Tony asked pinching the bridge of his nose, "fire it at my interns? Or pick a random person in the street and shoot them? Or even better, find DNA samples of my enemies and get rid of them once and for all?" Tony got up from his chair, looking at him with demanding eyes and folded arms.

"Maybe start by not forcing your spirit animal to kill you!" Stephen pushed him back by his chest and his face once again contracted in a discomfort pout.

"Let's take this somewhere else, shall we?" Tony sighed.

"Where?"

"Somewhere with alcohol would be a start, if I have to endure this speech one more time, at least let it be under the influence of at least half a bottle of bourbon," the billionaire said walking to the elevator with Stephen right behind him, pretending not to notice the perfectly well-stocked bar Stark had in one corner of the office, "Jarv, don't wait up for me honey and please show Levi around the place, the doctor will be busy all night lecturing me, unless he's more fun than that, but I doubt it."

"Well—, there is this thing about elevators—," Stephen whispered in the shorter man's ear when the door opened and they walked in, "—that makes any average person appear ten times more appealing," he cornered Tony against the elevator wall as soon as the door closed behind them.

"I'm anything but average!" Tony replied, taking mock offense.

"That's exactly my point, Anthony—," he replied leaning in to kiss the man, "now show me this penthouse of yours, that you were so eager for me to visit."


End file.
